Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu
On Monday 28 September 2026, a seventeen-member jury selected Pili Pili as the winner of the Bistrospill Award 2026 during a meeting organised by Spillfabrik and HORESCA at Brasserie du Kirchberg in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.
Organised for the ninth time, the Bistrospill Award recognises small games suited to playing in cafés and bistros. Spillfabrik, Luxembourg's largest board-gaming club, organises the award together with HORESCA, the federation representing hoteliers, restaurateurs and café owners.
Speaking to Chronicle.lu ahead of the jury session, Spillfabrik Vice-President Lol Margue explained the selection process: “We had 76 games from the different publisher who send us games. We asked them to send us and we did the selection to have five games for this final. And now every member of the jury will play it and then we'll give points and then one of them will be the one that will be BistroSpill of the year.”
The other four games shortlisted for the Bistrospill Award 2026 were Auf die Eier!, Flip 7, Oh My Socks! and Sneaky.
A jury of seventeen people took part in the selection process, playing each of the five shortlisted games before awarding points to determine the winner. According to Lol Margue, the club focuses on small games released during the previous board-game season, which generally runs from autumn to summer, with the selected games taking around twenty minutes to play.
The winning title, Pili Pili, is a card game in which players predict how many tricks they will win while adapting to changing missions. Designed for two to eight players, a game typically takes around twenty to 30 minutes.
Lol Margue added that the selected games come from international publishers but are also available in Luxembourg shops. Spillfabrik representatives are expected to attend the board game fair in Essen, Germany, at the end of October, where they will meet the publishers behind the finalist games and present the Bistrospill trophy to the winner.
